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Syria is ready to participate in peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending its civil war, the country’s foreign minister said during an official visit to China.

“Syria is ready to participate in the Syrian-Syrian dialogue in Geneva without any foreign interference,” Walid Muallem said during a press briefing yesterday, following his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Last week, the UN Security Council gave its unanimous support to a plan to end the Syrian conflict by summoning rebels and the regime to the negotiating table.

With crucial backing from the United States and Russia, the plan aims to install a ceasefire in Syria, possibly in January, when talks could also begin.

“Our delegation will be ready as soon as we receive a list of the opposition delegation,” he said.

“We hope that this dialogue will be successful to help us in having a national unity government.

“This government will compose a constitutional committee to look for a new constitution with a new law of election so the parliamentary election will be held within the period of 18 months, more or less.”

Today’s resolution gives UN blessing to a plan negotiated earlier in Vienna that calls for a ceasefire, talks between the Syrian government and opposition and a roughly two-year timeline to create a unity government and hold elections.

But the obstacles to ending the war remain daunting, with no side in the conflict able to secure a clear military victory.

Despite their agreement at the UN, major powers are bitterly divided on who may represent the opposition as well as on the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Wang over the weekend invited Syrian government and opposition figures to come to China as it looks to ways to help with the peace process. At least 250,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which is in its fifth year.

Meanwhile, at least 34 civilians were killed in the November 29 attack – one in a growing number of suspected Russian attacks that Syrian opposition and rights activists say have killed civilians and caused massive destruction to residential areas across the country since Moscow formally joined the conflict nearly three months ago.

Russian officials have repeatedly rejected the accusations while residents and most opposition activists inside Syria acknowledge they have no way of categorically distinguishing whether planes that carry out a specific attack are operated by Russians or Syrians. But human rights groups say the pattern of attacks suggests Russia is flouting international humanitarian law and that it may even amount to war crimes.

In a new report released on Wednesday, Amnesty International says it has also documented evidence suggesting Russia used cluster munitions and unguided bombs in populated residential areas. The London-based watchdog denounced Moscow’s “shameful failure” to acknowledge civilian killings. — Al Jazeera